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Revitalizing and Repurposing are the Focus of Bush Construction’s Latest Loft Project

The Pershing Hill Lofts, located in downtown Davenport, will offer residents wonderful new amenities and historical elements of the building’s industrial past.

Jerod Engler, Vice President of Construction at Bush Construction, explained the nature of the Pershing Hill Lofts project. “The lofts are in historical buildings dating back to the early 1900s,” he said. “There’s a six- story building and a three- story building that were most recently used by Crescent Electric.”

Transforming these buildings into loft apartments took creativity and precise planning, as they are historical structures.

“You have to be incredibly careful when you’re renovating historical buildings,” Engler explained. “The National Park Service told us what we could and couldn’t do to both the inside and the outside of the structure, the types of windows we could use, and certain walls that we could or could not take down. When we were designing, and now into the construction phase, we had to consider these elements all the time.”

Wayne Gordon, Project Manager at Bush Construction, said his team figured out ways to maintain the integrity of the building. “We have had to salvage a lot along the way,” Gordon said. “We couldn’t just take a wall down, we could only take down components of it and, in some locations, we just built a new wall over the existing wall.”

“We have to maintain the look and that’s more challenging than in new construction,” he explained. “The new windows must closely replicate the existing windows. With a new building, you start from the ground up with new walls and new components that you know will fit.”

Engler and Gordon said seeing elements of the project finalized is the most gratifying part of the process.

“We’ve been able to finish out the spaces on the upper floors of one of the buildings and to complete the industrial look with the exposed HVAC, ductwork, sprinkler lines and electrical conduit,” Gordon said. “Seeing it come together is pretty neat. You can definitely tell it’s a historical building.”

Engler explained why the project is so unique to him. “It’s nice to repurpose these old buildings instead of letting them sit,” he said. “They’ve got a lot of character, like the brick work on the exterior and the way they’re laid out. The way they were built is just incredible.”

The lofts should be completed by September and leasing of the 57 units is underway.